Bill introduced late in last Congress to have chilling effects on file-sharing

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, introduced into the Senate last year as S. 3804, could have a chilling effect on file-sharing websites. The bill would allow the AG to bring in rem action against any domain name "dedicated to infringing activities" and would compel violators to "suspend operation of, and lock, the domain name."

This bill would seem to have a drastic effect on any number of domain name's with file sharing capabilities including many hip-hop sites that often post (with questionable auspices) songs, music videos, etc.

The bill's lead co-sponsor was Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. The bill had 19 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, no small amount in the Senate.

Currently, there's been no talk of introducing it in the new Congress, but the bill did promisingly, for supporters, make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill enjoys the support of a number of industries and industry groups including the Property Rights Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, Association of American Publishers, NBC Universal, Entertainment Software Association, Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, US Chamber of Commerce, Screen Actors Guild, Viacom, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Warner Music Group, Major League Baseball, Nike Inc, and Communication Workers of America.

Opposed to the legislation are the Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Distributed Computing Industry Association.

It will be interesting to see what the new Congress will do if given the opportunity to consider the bill.

-- Nick J. Sciullo